EVANESCENCE's AMY LEE Is 'So Grateful' To Still Be Able To Make Music 20 Years After 'Fallen''s Release

In a new interview with Australia's "Today", EVANESCENCE frontwoman Amy Lee was asked how it feels to see the band's debut album, 2003's "Fallen", still resonating with so many people around the world and being discovered by new generations of fans. She responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Oh, great. This is a big year. It's an anniversary year, so 20 years since 'Fallen' this year. So there has been more focus on it again in a cool way. We've been through so much together. I think the biggest thing that I feel about all of that is really about the journey for us, for me and through the band, but also with our fans. We've all lived a lot of life in that time and it makes the songs more meaningful. It's not really just about like the initial meaning so much anymore. It's become something just so much bigger, because we've had so much time together. And new fans? You always want new fans. Come on."

Lee also talked about the music video for "Fallen"'s first single, "Bring Me To Life", recently surpassing a billion views on YouTube. She said: "It's awesome. I mean, it's crazy. There's a lot of milestones that have been happening lately with the first record. I never thought back then — I couldn't have imagined how far we've come and that we're here now still making music we love and earning new fans. Man, 20 years — it's a beautiful thing. I'm so grateful."

EVANESCENCE is celebrating the 20th anniversary of "Fallen" on an Australian tour, which kicked off last Thursday night (August 24) in Brisbane. The five-date trek marks the band's first Australian tour since their sublime run with local symphony orchestras in 2018.

Starting life when Lee and EVANESCENCE co-founder/guitarist Ben Moody began writing and recording songs in the mid-1990s, 2003's "Fallen" would go on to score five nominations at the 2004 Grammy Awards, winning "Best Hard Rock Performance" and "Best New Artist", with the album's symphonic and delicate ballad "My Immortal" also scoring an additional nomination at the Grammy Awards the following year.

Hitting the top 10 charts in multiple countries upon its release, including Australia and a No. 1 in the U.K., "Fallen" sold 10 million copies in the U.S. alone, with over 17 million copies sold worldwide and officially reaching diamond certification in late 2022.

"Fallen"'s lush and gloomy beauty memorably blended symphonic elements with goth, rock, metal and hooks aplenty, while also garnering significant attention for lead singles "Bring Me To Life", "Going Under", "My Immortal" and "Everybody's Fool". And while the album has gone on to be included in the likes of Rolling Stone's "The 100 Greatest Metal Albums Of All Time" and praise lauded for Lee's macabre tinge that set the band apart from their nu metal contemporaries at the time, "Fallen" also ultimately set the scene for a long-term legacy from the Arkansas-hailing group, who are now in command of five studio albums including 2021's powerful and intimate outing "The Bitter Truth" which debuted at No. 3 on the ARIA chart, which marked the band's highest debut in 15 years.

Following multiple worldwide tours, "The Open Door" followed "Fallen"'s footsteps, going on to sell more than five million copies, before the self-titled "Evanescence" in 2011 debuted at No. 1 on the ARIA album chart and Billboard chart. EVANESCENCE went down both very new and familiar paths for their fourth and most ambitious release to date, "Synthesis", in 2017 alongside a worldwide "Synthesis Live" tour combining their intense live performances and timeless songwriting with a powerful live orchestra, before unveiling "The Bitter Truth" in 2021, hitting the top 10 of multiple international album charts and marking itself on multiple "Best Of 2021" release lists worldwide.

The success of "Fallen" led to turmoil within the group, as Moody left in late 2003, leaving Lee as the only original member of the band.

Lee continued with new members, and EVANESCENCE issued "The Open Door" in 2006. While a hit, it did not equal the sales of "Fallen".

In February 2022, EVANESCENCE's music video for "Bring Me To Life" — which featured guest vocals from Paul McCoy of 12 STONES — surpassed one billion views on YouTube. The Philipp Stölzl-directed clip, which was uploaded to YouTube in December of 2009, was filmed in Romania in January 2003. It features Lee in a night gown and barefoot, in her room, inside a tall building in the city at night. The rest of the band is playing on a higher floor of the building.

In March 2021, Lee told Alternative Press that EVANESCENCE's original record label Wind Up threatened not to release "Fallen" if she and her bandmates didn't add a male voice to lead single "Bring Me To Life" to make it more palatable for radio.